Let’s Talk About Mental Health

I’ve made it no secret on my blog that I’ve suffered from a few mental health problems in the past. Anxiety was part of my life for so many years, I wrote this post a few years ago actually about 9 things that help me with anxiety. I also mention how I used to be a real hypochondriac, in fact I was at my worst when we had just got the internet, I was about 17 and I don’t think it was Google I used back then, maybe Ask Jeeves?! I used to obsessively search symptoms and was convinced I was going to have a heart attack / die within 24 hours of a brain tumour. The infographic I am going to share in this post refers to it as ‘cyberchondria’ and apparently 62% of people are more likely to search for their symptoms online instead of going to see a medical professional.

I have to say that I don’t think it’s always a bad thing to be able to search your symptoms online, in fact when I was pregnant with Tiger it was an amazing thing because I was able to diagnose myself with slapped cheek, the symptoms only lasted for a short time but because I had read how dangerous it can be in pregnancy I knew I needed to see a doctor who was able to confirm through my blood tests that I’d definitely had it. Then I was closely monitored for the rest of my pregnancy.

Obviously if you start to do it obsessively or really worry that you have something wrong then it’s worth going to see a doctor, even if just to put your mind at ease.

Interestingly the statistics show that people are more likely to talk to their friends about any mental health issues over their work colleagues, I think this is a shame but I do kind of understand why. Mental health issues still carry a bit of a stigma and I guess people feel like it’s a sign of weakness to admit that they are suffering with one, even though they wouldn’t feel that way if it was a different kind of medical condition.

There is help available no matter what your medical condition, mental health or otherwise so it’s important to go and speak to a medical professional.

And as it says in the infographic, if you ever feel like you’ve been mistreated by a medical professional then you can contact lawyers such as Slater & Gordon for help and advice.